Students’ mathematical beliefs and motivation in the context of inquiry-based mathematics teaching

In this paper, we investigate the learning experiences, beliefs and motivations of students in classes where the mathematics teachers have received support for using inquiry-based learning activities. Data were collected from 248 students in the age-range 11–16 using electronic questionnaires. Our results show that key features of inquiry-based mathematics were only moderately reflected in these students’ beliefs about the subject, their dispositions towards mathematics were less positive across the transition from primary to secondary school, and with respect to motivation this decline was stronger for girls than for boys. Furthermore, medium to strong correlations between belief- and motivation subdomains were found, for instance, students who view mathematics as a creative subject and/or have a growth mindset of mathematics also tend to find this subject enjoyable and perceive it as useful. Finally, our results indicate that inquiry-based teaching has a potential for fostering positive dispositions towards mathematics, as students who often experience inquiry-related activities in class also tend to see mathematics as a creative and interesting subject that will be useful for them in the future

Kontinuitet i overgangen fra skole til universitet - Implikasjoner av Fagfornyelsen for MNT-fagene

Vitenskapelig foredrag på MNT-konferansen 16. - 17. mars 2023, Stavanger, Norge. https://realfagsrekruttering.no/konferanser/mnt-konferansen-2023#om-konferansen.Med LK20 Fagfornyelsen innføres det nye læreplaner i skolen, der antall kompetansemål i de ulike fagene er noe redusert for å gi mer rom til dybdelæring, samt at læreplanene i matematikk og fysikk har et større fokus på utforsking, modellering og bruk av numeriske metoder enn tidligere (Ludvigsen et al., 2015; Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020, 2021). I dette bidraget presenterer vi hvordan en gruppe undervisere ved UiT har jobbet med å trekke elementer fra Fagfornyelsen inn i første studieår i flere studieprogrammer innen MNT-fagene, med mål om at de nye studentene skal oppleve en større grad av kontinuitet i fagene i overgangen skole - universitet. Videre knytter vi våre tiltak til forskningslitteratur om overgangen skoleuniversitet, og reflekterer kort over hvordan et økt fokus på modellering, autentiske oppgaver og bruk av effektive læringsstrategier i begynneremnene ved universitetet på sikt kan bidra til å øke studieprogrammenes arbeidslivsrelevans

Is TIMSS Advanced an appropriate instrument for evaluating mathematical performance at the advanced level of Norwegian upper secondary school? An analysis of curriculum documents and assessment items

En: Acta Didactica Norge, Vol. 7, No. 1The results of international, large-scale achievement studies attract a lot of attention and may affect educational policies. With this in mind, the primary aim of the present study was to examine the appropriateness of the mathematics tests developed for the two cycles of TIMSS Advanced for the evaluation of the mathematical performance of Norwegian upper secondary school students. The study utilized the methodology for alignment studies developed by Porter (2002), which entails analyzing and describing the mathematical content of the Norwegian curriculum documents and the TIMSS Advanced assessment items and calculating the agreement between these. The analyses showed a moderate alignment between the different iterations of TIMSS Advanced and the curri-culum followed by the participating students, implying that the emphasis in the Norwegian mathematics curriculum differs somewhat from that in the TIMSS Advanced tests. This does not mean that the TIMSS Advanced tests were inappropriate instruments for assessing the mathematical performance of participating Norwegian students. However, when interpreting the results of this large-scale survey, the differences in emphasis between the different iterations of the TIMSS Advanced and the curriculum should be taken into account. Finally, as alignment is evaluated by contrasting alignment indices calculated for different combinations of the intended and assessed curriculum, additional research is needed to make more firm judgments. An additional contribution of the present study is demonstrating a powerful methodology for conducting this kind of research

Inquiry-based mathematics teaching in practice: a case of a three-phased didactical model

International audienceDuring the latest decades, inquiry-based teaching (IBMT) has become one of the top issues at the agenda for educational politics. IBMT is seen as having a potential for enhancing the students' motivation for and appreciation of mathematics as a field of activity and as a tool for understanding the world. IBMT can be conceptualized and operationalized in different ways. In this paper, we focus on a three-phased didactical model for IBMT, which can frame the students' inquiry in and with mathematics, and support the teachers' planning and implementation of an inquiry based activity. More specifically, we present a case study of how the use of the didactical model can facilitate the implementation of IBMT, and what are the challenges that remain and need to be addressed

Curvature Effects in Ocean Surface Scattering

International audienceCurvature effects in EM scattering from ocean surface are described using a generalized curvature expansion of the fields at an elevated nonperfect conducting surface. The new expansion formalism allows us to describe analytically and in general, without separating into different scales, the scattering of EM waves from an undulated ocean surface. The model is exact to first order in curvature for nonshadowing imaging geometry, and obeys the law of reciprocity and tilt invariance. Explicit expressions for EM fields at the surface, including both the projection and the self induced fields, are derived up to first order in surface curvature. Analytic closed form expressions for the scattered fields are derived from the surface field solutions, and applied to the case of backscattering, providing a general expression for the normalized radar cross section. The analytic expression for the normalized radar cross section is implemented for a linear surface model using both the Eulerian and the Lagrangian frame of reference. The results show that the model is capable of describing the expected dependency on polarization, incidence angle, and wind field with minimal restrictions in terms of range of validity. Comparison of polarization ratio shows good agreement between the model and measurements from the Envisat ASAR instrument